diff --git a/lib/publickey.js b/lib/publickey.js
index 0ce572ccb..6977e1c5f 100644
--- a/lib/publickey.js
+++ b/lib/publickey.js
@@ -385,12 +385,12 @@ PublicKey.prototype.toBuffer = PublicKey.prototype.toDER = function() {
   }
 };
 
-/*
+/**
  * Will return a sha256 + ripemd160 hash of the serialized public key
  * @see https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/pubkey.h#L141
  * @returns {Buffer}
  */
-PublicKey.prototype.getID = function getID() {
+PublicKey.prototype._getID = function _getID() {
   return Hash.sha256ripemd160(this.toBuffer());
 };
 
diff --git a/test/publickey.js b/test/publickey.js
index 3843f5de7..f778b5ca9 100644
--- a/test/publickey.js
+++ b/test/publickey.js
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ describe('PublicKey', function() {
     data.forEach(function(d){
       var publicKey = PrivateKey.fromWIF(d[0]).toPublicKey();
       var address = Address.fromString(d[1]);
-      address.hashBuffer.should.deep.equal(publicKey.getID());
+      address.hashBuffer.should.deep.equal(publicKey._getID());
     });
     
   });